‘People are sick and tired of relentless negative politics, as am I. Our country deserves a higher quality of political debate.’
Photograph: Imageplotter/Rex/Shutterstock

No 10 has turned up the noise on the spin machine selling its “blind Brexit” deal, but that won’t change the simple fact that it’s playing a tune no one likes. This deal is the worst of all worlds. Taking EU rules without having a say and risking the break-up of the UK is not what people voted for.

We need to face facts. Parliament is gridlocked. There is no majority among MPs for the prime minister’s deal in parliament or for leaving with no deal. No matter how determined any one group is, the numbers just don’t add up.

In July it was already clear to me that we were heading towards parliamentary deadlock. I mapped out a proposal for giving everyone a fair and final say on our future relationship with the EU in a second referendum. There is a route out of the Brexit deadlock we find ourselves in, but it is going to require honesty, pragmatism and leadership from the government, parliament and all parties.

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The time for facing up to this problem is now long overdue. Voters deserve better than to have further crucial weeks lost through MPs who are already fixed in their positions arguing.

The three practical Brexit options are now clear. Last week, the prime minister herself even set them out. We can leave the EU with the deal she has negotiated, we can keep our current deal by remaining in the EU, or we can leave on WTO no-deal terms. It’s time to let people choose for themselves. The nation should decide what’s in the national interest.

I don’t want a replay of the first referendum, because it’s no longer a binary choice. We shouldn’t pretend there are two options when actually there are three.

At every general election voters choose between multiple candidates and manifestos of different parties. In some elections, voters even vote tactically. They vote to get the outcome they feel will be best for the future of the country. Choosing from three routes ahead for Britain on Brexit is no different.

Forcing voters to make a binary choice is very un-British. It’s never been how our politics has worked. This imported Trump-style “us and them” politics that we see in the US doesn’t serve our country well. We have to break the Brexit gridlock, but do so in a way that shifts away from a divisive, binary argument and towards a genuine consensus decided by people.

Crucially, I believe by giving the public a first and second preference vote, people can find their own consensus on our future relationship with Europe. It can work, it’s fair and it can deliver a clear voting majority on the way forward on Brexit, in a way parliament cannot. Having a first- and second-choice vote is how people have already vote for elected mayors across the country.

A three-option second referendum could be the moment we see our politics change for the better. People are sick and tired of relentless negative politics, as am I. Our country deserves a higher quality of political debate. Voters should reject those politicians who have nothing better to do than trash alternatives instead of setting out their own new ideas. Voters should reject those politicians who peddle hollow promises devoid of any real detail, just as they’d reject a flimsy manifesto at any other election.

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Parliament and party leaders on all sides must now grasp the nettle. Allowing people to have their say cannot be going against the people’s will – rather, it’s the only way to truly find out which way forward on Brexit people really want. To have parliament block that public debate, giving excuses for inaction and delay may feel like the easy way out, but it doesn’t serve our country well.

Like most people, I’ve never been ideologically driven on the European Union. I take a pragmatic view. My concern is that unless we break the gridlock on Brexit, we will never be able to focus on what I got into politics to change: driving social mobility and opportunity more widely across Britain.

Those who say “Just get on with it” need to face facts. Parliament can’t “just get on with it”. It’s gridlocked. But going back to the people, in one of the world’s oldest democracies, is our best chance of finding much-needed direction for our country, marking the start of a political renewal for Britain.

We should have the courage to take this necessary step.

• Justine Greening is the Conservative MP for Putney. She resigned as education secretary in January 2018